Many electronic devices utilize solder bumps or the like for attachment and interconnection to a circuit board or other mounting structure. Flip-chip semiconductor devices are a common example. Such devices may comprise a single element or a small number of elements, or a complex arrangement of elements in an integrated circuit or in circuits of intermediate complexity. Such flip-chip devices usually are provided with solder bumps or equivalent during wafer processing. As used herein, the words “bumps” and “solder bumps” are intended to include bumps formed using any type of conductor with or without solder. Such bumps protrude from the surface of the semiconductor or other die. When the semiconductor or other die is to be coupled to its supporting substrate it is flipped over so that the bumps face toward the substrate and line up with mating attachment pads to which they are attached, e.g., by soldering. This is well known in the art. The composition and method of formation of the bumps themselves is outside the scope of the present embodiments.
The performance of such flip-chip devices, whether of semiconductor or other types of elements, depends critically on the placement of the bumps relative to the active regions and other elements on the die. In many prior art flip-chip devices, the placement of the bumps has focused more on their use for electrical coupling and less on their potential use for thermal coupling, that is, for removing heat from the chip. As a consequence, the electrical and thermal performance of such bumped devices is often less than desired. Accordingly, there is a need for improved device structures employing bumps that can provide improved performance, especially thermal performance. It is desirable to provide devices employing attachment/connection bumps that offer, for example, reduced operating temperatures without a significant increase in the total occupied area. Further, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.